Several Internet Service Providers in the United States use subscribers’ cable modems to broadcast free WiFi hotspots to other customers in the area. While notes about this practice are always buried somewhere in terms and conditions or other notices, subscribers are often unaware of this practice. And as might be expected, they’re often taken aback when they learn for the first time that their Internet connections are being used to provide strangers with free WiFi. More →

Cablevision’s Optimum Wi-Fi service, free for subscribers, has been extremely popular in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut tri-state area, giving customers access to fast Wi-Fi from tens of thousands of locations. Today, Cablevision is announcing that the company has bumped up speeds at all Wi-Fi locations to 15Mbps down and 4Mbps up — the same speeds home subscribers get with entry-level Optimum Online service. Over 500,000 people use Optimum’s free Wi-Fi service, and this move makes Optimum’s Wi-Fi faster than any 3G or 4G network, barring Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network, which we’ve seen trump those numbers from time to time. Additionally, Cablevision previously partnered with Time Warner and Comcast to allow customers of all three providers to roam onto all three provider’s Wi-Fi networks, so this change affects Time Warner and Comcast subscribers as well which is great. The full press release is after the break, and the new download and upload speeds are already available across the tri-state area. More →

Honestly, we absolutely love it when a company ignores its instincts along with the onslaught of advice from its PR firm and talks, err, smack. Despite what some flacks may tell you, people want to hear it like it is and sometimes PR-ified nonsense does more harm than good. Then again, sometimes the opposite is true. Like this time, for instance. Verizon has publicly responded to Cablevision’s new $99 Optimum Ultra 101Mbps residential Internet service in much the same manner a preteen with a hand-me-down Sega Genesis would respond to one touting a brand new Xbox 360. If you’d like to forgo reading Verizon’s response, here are the key points found within:

Cablevision’s network is old.

Delivering 101Mbps is easy.

If a few people in the same neighborhood are heavy Ultra users, it will rip a hole in the space time continuum

People don’t want fast Internet service

Verizon can offer speeds waaaaaaay faster than 101Mbps — we just don’t want to

Optimum Ultra’s upstream is 15Mbps and we offer 20Mbps [in the $150/month package]

Most servers you hit on the Internet are way slower than 100 Mbps

Cablevision just wants bragging rights

Nanny nanny poo poo

While there is a valid point or two buried deep within the ‘we’re better but we choose not to be’ cries, the bottom line is that this was the wrong approach to take. Wrong. Verizon first contends that there is no demand for faster Internet service in the home, then concludes with the canned “the future is gonna be faaaaaast” claim. Well, Verizon, the future isn’t going to be fast unless service providers take incremental steps toward making it so.

If you’re a Cablevision subscriber with a need for more bandwidth, you’re in for a real treat. Like, you might need to change your pants. Just announced a few seconds ago is Optimum Online’s new Ultra service. This takes their existing Boost service to a whole new level. Want to know how fast? How about 101Mbps downstream and 15Mbps upstream. Fast enough? Well, it’s now the fastest residential internet service in the entire country. Even better is the fact that come May 11th, the Ultra service will be available to every single Cablevision subscriber across their entire service area. You might be wondering what the pricing will be on this… it’s going to be available for $99 a month. Existing subs are paying around $60/month for Boost at 30Mbps/5Mbps and Verizon’s FIOS service is around $150/mo for 50Mbps/20Mbps — seems incredibly fair right? Think of all the DiVx movies, applications, games you could...